


Paradox

by LunaRS



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angst and Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2017-12-23 21:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaRS/pseuds/LunaRS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Donna doesn't remember a thing, Jack's alright, Martha found Mickey, and Rose...the Doctor wanted to say his last goodbyes but something happens that he doesn't count on. Will he have the strength to make the right choice? Especially when it involves travelling with his beloved Rose again? The first chapter is based on the end of "The End of Time pt.2".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don't Touch Me!

One more person to see; he’d saved the best for last. He stood, shivering in the snow in a shadowy corner, waiting to see her. Rose. His Rose. A Rose that hadn’t met him yet; why do you suppose he’d want to see her like that? It wasn’t because he couldn’t visit her in the parallel world—no, she already had the copy to keep her company—and he could have easily picked a time that she and nine were running about. But no, he picked a time before she knew him, before she’d travelled with him, because he knew that when she saw him, she wouldn’t look sad; there would be no pain in her beautiful brown eyes and she wouldn’t look twice.

He leaned absently against the brick wall behind him, facing Rose’s apartment. He was quiet and anxious; on the inside, a storm of pain, anger, and almost-apathy raged but with expert struggling and straining, he kept all traces of it off his face except in his eyes he couldn’t hold in a look of exhaustion.  
He then heard the crunch of snow underfoot of two people walking towards the apartments.

“It’s late now, I’ve missed it,” he heard a woman say; he identified it easily as Jackie Tyler.  
“Midnight. Mickey’s gonna be calling and everything; it’s your fault!” she accused the person she was talking to. He chuckled to himself; oh, Jackie Tyler.  
“No it’s not!” Rose’s defensive reply came, her voice practically stabbing his hearts.  
“It’s Jim-bo! He said he was going to give us a lift and then he said his axel broke, I can’t help it!” Jackie displaced the blame.  
“Stop dating him, mum, he’s useless!” Rose protested, hugging herself against the cold.  
“Listen to you! With a mechanic!” Jackie argued.  
‘A mechanic?’ He wondered for a moment.  
‘Oh yes, Mickey.’ He thought to himself with a hint of jealousy before grinning when he remembered how he’d soon be stealing her heart and giving her both his own…

“Be fair, though,” Jackie started, quieter.  
“In my time of life I’m not going ta do much betta.” She finished, looking at her daughter as they stopped walking.  
He could see Rose now; not her face.  
Rose put a hand on her mother’s shoulder in a comforting way.  
“Don’t be like that,” she began. Her voice drove him out of his mind yet he remained silent and in the shadows.

“You never know, there could be someone out there.” Rose continued.  
“Maybe…” Jackie said, looking wistful.  
“One day.” She was feeling encouraged now.  
“Happy New Year!” they congratulated each other, giving hugs and giggles.  
“Don’t stay out all night.” Rose instructed her mum.  
“Try and stop me.” Jackie jeered as she walked off. Rose huddled off towards her apartment alone.  
‘Now’s my chance, I suppose.’ He thought.  
He stared at her pensively before a sudden flare of pain coursed through him, catching him off guard.  
Rose turned quickly at the sound of his gasp.  
“You alright, mate?” she asked. He looked up swiftly.  
“Yeah.” He answered without hesitation. When he saw her face, his hearts skipped a beat each in its turn; she was so beautiful.  
“Too much to drink?” she guessed, shivering in the cold.  
“Something like that.” He replied.  
“Maybe it’s time you went home.” Rose said.  
He almost couldn’t speak.  
“Yeah…” he finally got out.  
“Anyway, happy New Year!” she offered him congratulations with a wide grin.  
“And you.” He replied. She turned and began walking away. He wanted to speak with her longer; he thought that maybe if he spoke longer, if he could hear her voice one last time, that he could let go, again, but not now; not yet.

“What year is this?’ he asked. She whipped around, looking confused.  
“Blimey, how much have you had?” she giggled, amused.  
“Well…” he mumbled, shifting his weight and shivering in his trench coat, jerking his head back a bit and grinning.  
“Two thousand and five, January the first.” She said, stressing the last three words.  
“Two thousand and five…” he repeated. Rose nodded.  
“Tell you wot…I bet you’re going to have a really great year.” He told her, his smile knowing. Rose looked a bit intrigued.  
“Yeah?” she said. He only smiled and Rose turned away again before turning back to smile and say “see ya.”  
With that, she ran to her apartment and closed the door behind her, sneaking another glance in his direction before running up the stairs inside.

The pain now of two newly broken and dying hearts was almost too overwhelming for him to handle as he turned his back on Rose’s flat and tried to walk away. He leaned against the brick wall for support, gasping in his agony.  
He caught sight of the TARDIS and pushed himself off the wall, trying to walk to it with pain ridden steps. A few long and hard steps and his body faltered.  
‘I’m going to die! I don’t want to die!’ he thought frantically.  
He cried out and fell to his hands and knees. He whimpered against the pain and panted, looking up to see an Ood standing a couple paces away from him with communicator in hand.

“We will sing to you, Doctor,” The Ood started.  
“Universe will sing you to your sleep.”  
“Oh my gosh, sir are you alright?” a very alarmed voice called from behind. He strained to look and he saw Rose running to him.  
‘If she touches me, there’ll be a paradox!’ he panicked in his head.  
“Don’t touch me!” he hissed as she neared him.  
Rose stopped beside him, ignoring what he’d just said. A few tears found their way down his cheeks as he began to panic, feeling weaker and weaker.  
“Please…don’t…” he choked, the radiation within him clutching at his very core. If he didn’t regenerate now, he might never have the chance to.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, mate.” She soothed, reaching out to touch his shoulder.  
“A paradox is upon us!” the Ood said before it disappeared.  
‘Don’t touch me!’ he thought.  
Rose’s hand touched the fabric of his trench-coated shoulder and he felt energy surge through him. Images flew through his mind, images of Martha, Donna, Jack, and Rose quickly appearing and disappearing rapidly as well as every moment of every adventure that he had ever experience with them, his beloved companions, and then he was left with the feeling that something was very, very wrong.  
Then black.

\--------

He shot up, looking around frantically to see he was in a bed in someone’s flat.  
It was Rose’s flat.  
“Wot you doin’, bringin’ a fellow like that into your flat?” a familiar voice asked in the other room.  
“Wot was I supposed to do then? Leave ‘im out there in the snow?” Rose’s voice his his ears; he guessed she was arguing with Mickey in the next room.  
“Wot…wot am I doing here?” he wondered to himself, swinging his legs off the bed and standing, making his way to a mirror on the wall by the door.  
‘Well, let’s see how I’ve changed…’ he thought absently.  
Once he saw his reflection, his mouth gaped open.  
He hadn’t regenerated.  
“Wot?!” he breathed in alarm and shock.  
“Wot?!”


	2. A New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor figures some things out and finds a crack in the wall...

“Oh, ‘ello...you’ve woken up!” Rose opened the door, looking at bit huffy and surprised. A very unamused Mickey trailed in behind her and glared at the Timelord.  
“Wot’s you’re name then?” Mickey asked, looking very intimidated.  
“I’m The Doctor,” The Doctor said with a kind grin, holding his hands behind his back. He tried his best not to let on that he knew all about the humans that stood before him. ‘I need to get out of here and figure this out,’ he thought to himself.  
“The Doctor? Doctor Who?” Mickey questioned.  
“Just the D-Doctor…” The Doctor stuttered, feeling a wave of weakness come over him. He faltered and Rose lunged to his aid, instructing Mickey to do the same. The Doctor felt exhausted, and his hearts were beating slower than usual. Rose and Mickey carefully laid him back in bed before, once again, The Doctor’s world went black.

\--------

‘Something’s wrong. Something is very, very wrong. Wot’s that? Wot is that?!  
Rose...Rose, no! Don’t!’

The Doctor shot open his eyes, panting. Images of Rose and the Bad Wolf all at once flooded then vanished within his mind; a remainder of his nightmare.  
“It’s okay, Doctor. I’m here,” Rose’s voice cooed in his ears. He looked around wildly at the room then at his hands; he traced his jaw and face with his fingers slowly, trying to calm himself and retain the tears that threatened to fall out of the vividness of the dream.  
He still hadn’t regenerated, but why?  
The radiation seemed to be gone and he felt right as rain at the moment, besides being monstrously famished; he also had quite a throbbing headache.

“Oohf...My head…” The Doctor groaned, putting a hand to his forehead.  
“Probably just a hangover,” Rose said.  
“Something like that…” The Doctor mumbled.  
“Anyway, my name is Rose. That other bloke’s name is Mickey.” she explained, pointing her thumb towards the door, showing that Mickey was gone.  
“Nice to meet you, Rose,” The Doctor said and grinned; the sound of her name made his hearts thump harder as well as every time he saw her smile.

“So that Mickey fellow...he your...boyfriend?” he asked sitting himself up.  
“Yeah. Two years now,” Rose stated, shining a cute smile. “You have any family around here?” she asked.  
“No...not really,” he said.  
“Oh yeah? Where’re they at then?” she questioned curiously.  
“Far...far away,” he said, becoming a bit downhearted. ‘Too far…’ he thought to himself. “Wot about you? You live here?” The Doctor changed the subject.  
“Yeah, wif my mum,” she said, almost rolling her eyes.  
“Ahahah...she sounds difficult,” he said with a slight giggle.  
“Yeah, you’ve got no idea…” Rose trailed off.  
The Doctor knew he needed to get to his TARDIS as soon as he possibly could; he still had no idea what was going on. But wait...what did the Ood say? “A Paradox is upon us…” he breathed absently.  
“Excuse me?” Rose wondered, confused and curious.  
“Nothing,” The Doctor excused his comment before realizing what must have happened. He was about to regenerate then Rose had come after him and...touched him.  
That’s it!  
By touching him, she had created a Paradox, therefore erasing all that had happened in his timeline pertaining and influenced by his interaction with Rose. Of course!  
‘That’s why I didn’t regenerate!’ he thought.  
The Doctor swung his legs over the side of  
the bed in excitement. “Oh! That’s brilliant!” he said aloud.  
“Wot?” Rose asked, looking a bit bewildered.  
Then his excitement stopped abruptly and his face grew stern. ‘No...this isn’t right...I need to set this to the way it was before...’ 

It was at the thought of losing Rose again, this time purposefully, that dimmed the light in his amber brown eyes. His face carried a quiet and complacent stare of the knowledge of what he knew he had to do, no matter how unwilling he was to do it; his hearts were heavy with apathy and it made his struggle all the more worse. His mind searched for everything, anything that could alternatively be done instead but only the one thought was possible: ‘I need to set this right...’ 

His emotions waged war within him.  
‘But why can’t I live? Why can’t I have Rose? I deserve this...’ he began to think, turmoil rising in his soul.  
He looked at Rose.  
‘I deserve her.’  
And so with a long hard battle in his hearts, soul, and mind, the Timelord Victorious reigned over all. A new light, one not of wonder, excitement, and rightly thought justice, but of selfish desires, sorrow, and apathy towards the right decision entered his amber eyes. His face held a grin but behind it hid a grimace at his own thoughts and actions and finally his mind refused to stop fighting with his hearts, for his mind was stronger and more seasoned in the ways of reason; his hearts were flimsy and tattered, barely held together at all and they jumped at any opportunity to feel again, be it love or happiness, no matter how temporary.  
But a small twinge of guilt embedded itself into the pit of his stomach.  
“Oh...nothing,” The Doctor said quietly. He then looked up and was surprised by what he saw. A tiny little crack with a bit of light bleeding through.  
“Wot’s that?” he wondered aloud, his brow furrowing. He quickly leapt off the bed and ran to where his coat was hanging on the door and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.  
“Wot’s wot?” Rose asked, a bit perplexed.  
The Doctor jumped onto the bed and began to scan the crack with his sonic screwdriver.  
“Wot’s that?” she questioned.  
“A sonic screwdriver,” The Doctor explained absently. He touched the crack and whipped his finger back, surprised at the sudden pain.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed, leaping off the bed and grabbing his coat. Rose followed swiftly behind him, out of the apartment, down the stairs, and into the frigid air outside. The Doctor ran, very aware of Rose’s presence, towards the TARDIS and ran inside of it. Rose did the same and stopped once inside, looking around in pure awe.

“It’s bigger...on the inside…” she breathed. The Doctor grinned boyishly and ran to the controls, slinging his coat on the railing.  
It was at this moment that The Doctor made a compromise with his hearts and his mind: ‘Tell her what you are and if she wants to travel with you, go ahead,’ he thought to himself. His hearts and mind were now in agreement.  
“Like it? It’s my ship,” The Doctor said, his grin widening.  
“Are you...what are you?” she asked.  
“I’m a Timelord,” he explained.  
“Not human?” she asked, confused and a bit disbelieving.  
“No. Two hearts, genius...this ship?” He was running out of comparative things.  
“You look human,” she continued.  
“No,” he said, raising his eyebrows, “you look Timelord. W-Would you like to travel with me?” he asked hesitantly after a moment of mutual silence.  
“Where?” she asked.  
“Anywhere you like. Oh, did I mention that it’s a time machine too?” he added with a pleading look; was he sure he was really going to be able to reset his timeline if she said no? “You could be gone for days, months even, and still be home in time for tea,” he continued.  
Rose grinned excitedly.  
“Why not.”


	3. Timelord Victorious

They explored; for hours and hours, Rose and the Doctor walked through the halls, looking into room after room, in the TARDIS.  
They talked and discussed time and history and space, creations, inventions, and secrets of the universe. As they talked, the Doctor found it harder and harder not to talk to her like he was familiar with her, as if he had feelings for her.  
Finally, finally, they were travelling. The Doctor showed her new worlds and explored the past and future with her, careful only to show her places he’d never shown the old Rose, more to protect himself from his memories of her than to protect her from anything in particular. 

"They really do have dog's heads!" Rose exclaimed as they ran into the TARDIS, giggling and frantically trying to get away from their recent pursuers from the planet Barcelona. The Doctor ran for the controls, flipped a few switches, and pulled a large lever and the TARDIS groaned, raspy, an like an old overused engine, before they were once again traveling. Somehow, the Doctor had managed to insult the Barcelonian Emperor, and they had this been run out of the palace by the dog-faced citizens.

"Yeah, apparently one should never refer to the King's reign as a leash," The Doctor giggled, giddy with the events that had just passed.   
Rose and the Doctor leaned on the railing of the TARDIS, laughing together and grinning all around. They talked about the people of Barcelona, their customs, and all that. The Medusa Cascade, the lost Moon of Poosh--lost now to all but the Doctor--and the Belt of Morian; each held an adventure that he and this new Rose experienced. They were small adventures, little mysteries that were easily solved, but they still charmed Rose, enchanted her wonder and she was clever; oh, she was clever!   
Everything was much more exciting when she was there; he hated travelling alone.

But then there were the nightmares. The Doctor, exhausted by the looming paradox, that he chose to ignore, had slept more than usual--he was capable of weeks without sleep--and the most prominent dreams he had were of Rose when he couldn’t tell her he loved her, Rose when she fought Paradoxes and Time itself to save the world; Rose when she saved Time and Space, the whole universe even, when she became the Bad Wolf. Nothing like that could ever happen again, he knew; it was impossible.  
There was nothing to worry about. He shouldn’t be afraid of something so rare.

“Now,” The Doctor started, leaping off the railing towards the controls.  
“Where to next?” he asked readily, his hand resting, twitching with anticipation, on the dial of years, months, and days; his other hand hovered over the buttons of hours, minutes, and seconds.  
Rose displayed a jaunty smile and replied “to bed” as she turned on her heels and walked out of the control room, not without smiling one last time over her shoulder.  
“Wot?” the Doctor almost squeaked behind her, letting his arms fall to his sides. “How can you be so tired when there are so many exciting places we could go?” he mumbled to himself, half-heartedly smiling in return.

“Goodnight,” he called after her before the door slid quickly shut.  
“Don’t get her lost this time,” The Doctor said sternly, directly to the TARDIS.  
The lights flickered in the living-machine’s reply. An ethereal cooing and breath-like speech entered his ears, for he was the only one who could hear and understand it.  
“I know, but she is Rose. And…” the cooing interrupted him.  
“Well, same with my duplicate, the one that...Rose has…” he answered hesitantly. More breathy words.  
“Well, it’s sort of the same thing…” he said slowly, pouting that he was losing an argument with a spaceship. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m the Timelord Victorious. I can and will do with Time and Space what I please,” he finished indignantly. He was not going to relent to the “old girl”, no matter how much she argued.  
The cooing grew more adamant and angry sounding.  
“I’m finished talking about this,” he warned. “She won’t become the Bad Wolf again; there’s not cause for her to,” he added thoughtfully. One last breathy word.  
“Oi, don’t call me a Tyrant!” he said disdainfully, his ego a little deflated.  
That was that. The TARDIS made no further attempt at argument with her Doctor.  
Yet, she, a being who is the vortex of Time and Space itself, who can see all that will, has, and can possibly happen, planned to direct him to a problem that was at hand; there was a mystery that, although she knew he would not solve now, he would have to be made to acknowledge soon, no matter how unwilling he was. She was aware that her Doctor’s heart would break once more but she was confident that the pieces would hold, at least for long enough. 

The Doctor paced a little, processing all of Time and Space that roamed through his mind; though his mind worked much like the TARDIS in which he could also see what was, has, and could possibly come about, but as powerful as his mind was, he could not process everything fast enough; he understood that he knew, but he did not understand how much and what he knew, at least not at once.

He carefully, and wearily walked out of the control room, shutting off the lights behind him, and walked first towards his own room, or at least the one he had decided to sleep in today, before turning, on second thought, and walking towards Rose’s room.  
Stealthily, and quietly, the Doctor manually pulled out his sonic screwdriver and concentrated it on the door to make it open slowly, and once it was opened he tiptoed into the darkened room up to the bed where she lay, calm and peaceful.  
The Doctor leaned forward to gingerly catch a glimpse of her face, for she was facing the wall away from him.

She was angelic, breathing slowly and steadily like that; such an exceptional human. His hearts thumped faster, almost skipping a few beats, and his cheeks flushed red; would he have the courage to tell her how he felt about her? Because he of all people knew that nothing lasts forever. He would have to tell her, sooner rather than later.  
The Doctor reached out, slowly and hesitantly to touch her golden locks until the improperness of the situation struck him and he stole his hand away, backing out of the room reluctantly. The door squeaked once as it closed, and the Doctor did not hear Rose’s quiet words as he left, “goodnight, Doctor.”

‘Timelord Victorious’ rang hollowly through his mind. Did that really mean anything? Did he really have that right? To change Time and Space at his will? Then he remembered Captain Adelaide Brooke and the creatures of the waters of Mars; what good had the “Timelord Victorious” been then? He had gone too far and Adelaide had killed herself because of his mistake…But this was different; Rose was different.  
And so he pushed the matter from his weary mind; Captain Adelaide Brooke, though her life did in fact mean something to him, he chose to ignore her for the time being, and the example she had made of this “Timelord Victorious”. He was exhausted.  
And thus the Doctor laid down.

\--------

The Doctor yawned, his body shuddering as he stretched sleepy muscles. He leaned against the railing in the control room, drowsily waiting for Rose to wake up; he browsed travel magazines, from all across the galaxies, of course, for places he might want to take Rose on their next adventure. After an hour of browsing, pacing, and sitting patiently, he looked at the time and saw that, at least in the TARDIS, it was way past sleeping hours for humans.  
He stood and walked determinedly through the halls to Rose’s room where he gallantly stepped past the doorway and made his way to her bedside.   
“Wakey, wakey!” he called, giggling a little when she started in her sleep with a bit of a snort. “It’s time to have an adventure!” he enthusiastically continued, trying to conceal his laughter.   
“Wot time is it?” Rose groaned, pulling her pillow over her head.   
“Time to get up,” the Doctor replied. “It gets boring, waiting for you humans to wake up,” he added, sitting on the edge of the bed.  
She mumbled something that he couldn’t understand.   
“Wot?” he questioned. He was answered by the pillow suddenly making contact with his face, causing him to fall off the bed in a suppressed “Aaaaah!”   
Rose laughed and rolled over to the side of the bed to look down at him.   
“Wot you gonna do now?” she asked with a smile.   
The Doctor grinned back and lunged at her, tickling her fiercely and laughing with her as she flailed and kicked about.

\--------

Finally Rose was up and dressed, after their little tickle fight--Rose had managed to get a quite a few giggles out of the Doctor--and after they stopped in London for a breakfast of custard, which the Doctor discovered he was quite fond of, they were finally on their way to deciding where to go next.  
“Past or future?” The Doctor asked, his hands at the ready on the controls.   
“Future,” Rose decided almost immediately. Where could he take her in the future? A few places grazed through his mind then it struck him. He could take her to see the end of the world again. Yes, that was a marvelous idea; he was glad he’d thought of that...but wait. He hadn’t thought of it…Who had…  
He shook his head slightly. It didn’t matter. The TARDIS was silently triumphant.   
“To the future then!” he announced, throwing the switch. The TARDIS shuddered and the rusty engine noise was rough, old, and beautiful in both Rose’s and the Doctor’s ears. Everything shook and Rose held onto the railing to stabilize herself, smiling in perfect gayety, filled with the excited knowledge that very soon there would be something unknown and new waiting for her outside of those doors. 

Everything stopped and the TARDIS made the unmistakable sound of its landing. The Doctor looked at Rose, and they ran out to see a room with large windows facing the earth itself.  
“Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful…” Rose breathed, walking slowly towards the windows. The Doctor watched her fondly from behind. She was so beautiful.  
“What year is it?” Rose questioned, turning to look at the Doctor; the light from the expanding sun caught in her hair and made it look as if she were radiating, making her eyes glow with a tint of gold...he shivered slightly; it reminded him too much of the Bad Wolf.

He cleared his throat. “Year five billion!” he announced, gesturing towards the earth with his head, his hands in his pockets.  
“Welcome to the end of the world.” Rose’s mouth gaped when he said that.  
She looked out at the earth and set a hand slowly onto the window as if she were reaching for the world.

“Wot?” she breathed.  
“Today’s the day the sun expands and destroys the earth,” The Doctor explained.   
“...I could try and stop it?” The Doctor suddenly spoke, slowly; he was ready to see if he could, if the Timelord Victorious was capable of such a thing.  
Rose began to smile before it suddenly vanished off her face and she tilted her head, looking confused.  
“But, didn’t you say you couldn’t change fixed points in Time?” she said. The Doctor was startled. Had he told this Rose that?

“Did I? I don’t think so,” he persisted curiously. “Let’s get into the TARDIS and save the earth,” he suggested, turning away. He felt a hand on his shoulder stop him; his hearts thudded hard in his chest.  
“No, don’t. You can’t do that,” Rose said, worriedly.  
“Why not?” he asked, struggling with what he wanted to do and the unutterable fact that she was right.   
“I don’t know, it just feels wrong. Like it’s supposed to happen. Please don’t stop it, Doctor,” she pleaded. With a heavy sigh, and a feeling of panic rising within him, he nodded and said “okay.” 

Everything was quieter than he’d remembered. Where was the blue steward? The face of Bo?...Casandra even? That was when the Doctor looked up to see something that shouldn’t have been there; no, something was definitely wrong.  
On the ceiling, etching down into the west wall, was a glowing crack. 

“Wot’s that?” The Doctor mumbled to himself, pulling out his Sonic Screwdriver and scanning the crack. A flare of power and then nothing. Strange. Rose looked at it in awe.   
“Wot is it, Doctor?” she asked, instinctively grabbing onto his arm.   
“I don’t know…” he said slowly. The longer he stared at it, though, the more he began to feel that something was very, very wrong. It was almost as if the crack was leaking something; that something may have done something to the steward and all the guests…the crack moved, grew an inch, but only the Doctor had seen it; it made him feel sick with fear. 

“Run!” he said, grasping Rose’s hand and practically leaping into the TARDIS with her.  
“Wot was that?!” Rose asked, very alarmed by now and panting. The Doctor remained silent as he frantically flipped switches here and there, just trying to run away from the crack. What was that crack? And why did it frighten him?

Another thought occurred to him. He was sure that he hadn’t told Rose anything about fixed points in Time. So how did she know?   
...Was she remembering? If so, how much did she remember.   
The Doctor looked towards Rose.   
‘Does that mean...Rose still exists in the Parallel universe?!’


	4. Familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> from Rose's POV in journal-like entries

Week 16 [April, 31, 2009 on Earth]

We’ve been running for a while now, though I don’t know what we’re running from. My life changed when I met the Doctor; when I saved him, he saved me from my dull life and my boring job…  
He’s a very interesting man, a Timelord. Sometimes he looks at me with such a sad look, like I remind him of someone; I wonder, am I the first companion he’s ever had? Or just the first in a long time?  
When I ask him about his home planet, he won’t talk about it long, only that it’s gone and he’s the last of his kind. He always changes the subject.  
The things he shows me are magnificent and beautiful; the end of the world, the medusa cascade, a chase in Barcelona with dog-headed royals…  
I don’t know what I would do without the Doctor.

Week 17 [May 7, 2009 on Earth]

Now it seems as if he’s searching for something; half the time I can’t understand a word he’s saying--this and that about chameleon circuits and such--but I don’t mind, I like listening to him talk. The things he knows about the universe, the things he’s seen…   
Recently he took me back in time to see my father. He let me watch him a while, but did not allow me to approach dad. My dad was right top lad, an inventor of ridiculous things, but one thing made me sad: mum and dad were always fighting.  
I suppose mum hasn’t changed much since then, but the way she used to talk about dad to me was as if he was the only man in the world for her.  
Interesting how people can figure out how much they love someone only after they’ve lost them. But the Doctor would never lose me; I’d never leave him.

Week 18 [January 1, 2009 on Earth (back in time)]

The Doctor made sure I was back in my flat before tea the day I decided to travel with him and he left to search for...whatever he was looking for--he doesn’t like staying in one place for too long and I wanted to see Mickey and my mum; but he gave me the TARDIS key as a promise that he would come back, saying, “I wouldn’t leave you here.”  
I can only hope he keeps his promise; I have faith in the Doctor. He’ll come back.  
Mum is well, rambling on about a new boyfriend or something--I really hope he’s worth his salt because, if he isn’t, he’ll have to go through me.  
Mickey has been getting on my nerves--don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice bloke, but I don’t think I love him; I don’t think I’ve ever loved him…  
I don’t know what to do.

Week 19 [January 8, 2009 on Earth]

Finally the Doctor came back! His TARDIS appeared in my flat and he came out yelling “I found another one! I found another one!”  
I asked him what he was talking about, but he was too excited to tell me.  
He picked me up and carried me into the TARDIS, more jolly than usual, and right in front of mum and Mickey too!  
When he held me, he looked at me like he’d known me for a very long time, as if this wasn’t the first time he’d held me like this; he looked like he wanted so badly to tell me something but instead he set me down and took us off somewhere new.

Week 19 [January 9, 2009 on Earth]

The Doctor told me what he’d found: a crack in the universe. “Don’t touch it,” he said. “If you do, it will consume you and make it as if you had never existed.”  
He was very worried.  
We travelled about until yet another crack was found in a temple of Arcadia, and he studied it a lot, but he never touched it. I asked him how the cracks had gotten there, where they’d come from, but he said he didn’t know, even though he looked like he did know.  
The Doctor is a very interesting man, and sometimes I have moments where...where I feel like I’ve seen him before. Sometimes he does something and I get deja vu.   
I might be wrong. It’s impossible to forget a man like him.

Week 19 [11:34pm on the TARDIS]

I just had a dream about the Doctor. It was strange: I was travelling with him like always, and in the dream his face looked a little different, but I knew it was him. But something was wrong. I was running into the TARDIS, but then the ship travelled off without him. I was panicking. Mickey and Mum helped me open...something in the TARDIS--it’s all a bit fuzzy--and then I remember I saved him.   
There was power coursing through me and I saved the Doctor; my Doctor.   
I don’t know what this dream means, but I know one thing.  
I think...I think I’m in love with the Doctor.


	5. Might as well say it...

The TARDIS rasped and moaned as she landed, her Doctor still frantically searching for the cracks in Time and Space.  
‘He was only postponing the inevitable,’ she thought, ‘Rose is going to leave soon...she’ll be gone and he is alone.’ she wanted to tell him but she knew better; the TARDIS, being a living machine of all futures and pasts and everything inbetween, found it hard sometimes to get her tenses right. Tenses are hard.

The Doctor yawned, sitting in the TARDIS’ control room, waiting for Rose to wake up. It was only about five in the morning and she’d made him promise not to wake her until at least eight ‘o’ clock. He usually didn’t mind waiting; it was all just as he remembered it to be with the first Rose.  
One moment longer, however, and his patience ran out. The Doctor stood and walked impatiently to Rose’s room.  
He entered quietly and tiptoed to her bed, looking at her peaceful face.

For an hour, the Doctor watched her, standing perfectly still, and when his legs were tired, he sat and looked on.  
Two hours more and he was lying on his back on the ground, studying the ceiling.  
All the silence allowed him to think deeply, his eyes half closed.

‘What am I doing…?’ he wondered.  
‘Maybe I’ve gone too far...but I can’t reset now, I’ve got the cracks to investigate...and I can’t abandon Rose, not again...’ He heaved a sigh.  
“...I suppose I’ll have to tell her…” the Doctor mumbled, crossing his arms.  
“Tell who wot?” Rose’s tired voice asked from under her mound of blanket.

“Oh nothing.” he replied hurriedly, startled by her waking.  
Like a strange creature, Rose, still completely wrapped up in her comforter, seemed to roll off the bed and wriggle her way next to the Doctor on the floor.

“Good morning, caterpillar,” the Doctor grinned.  
“I bet that’s what you call all the girls…” Rose said in muffled sarcasm. The Doctor turned his head to see her peek her face out from under the tangle of blanket.  
They giggled like children.

\--------

Rose walked into the control room and stretched.   
“Where are we going today?” she yawned.  
“The bay of Moompay,” The Doctor put extra emphasis on the strange sounding word.  
“Moompay?” Rose echoed with amusement. “Wot, is that like a...village?”  
“More like a really, really, big beach.” He explained.

“A day at the beach!” Rose was beaming.  
“Yeah...you can swim right?” The Doctor asked.  
“Of course I can! Can’t you?” she said, walking up to the Doctor.  
“Well, yeah, but--”  
“Well I’m not gonna let you get out of this one, Doctor.” Rose interrupted, placing a quick kiss on the Doctor’s cheek, immediately then looking a bit confused for bestowing such a familiar gesture on him.

The Doctor blushed and tried to act as though it never happened.  
‘She’s beginning to act like Rose...’ he thought.  
“You do have swimming trousers, right?” she questioned, trying to ignore her own blush.  
“Yeah, of course...well, at least I think I do…”  
“Good! I’ll just be a moment.” Rose called over her shoulder as she ran off towards her room.

The Doctor, once she was gone, grazed his fingers on the place where she’d kissed and tried not to think about the past.

\----------

“Come on out, Doctor!” Rose called.  
The Doctor felt a bit ridiculous in his swimsuit but he complied, practically leaping out the door from his closet and presented himself to Rose.  
He posed and flexed comically and Rose laughed heartily. The only swimming wear that he could find was a sort of old 50’s thing that looked more like a jail-striped leotard than anything else.

“Wot do you think?” the Doctor asked, his confidence boosting to its usual level.  
“Very attractive, I dare say,” Rose faked a high-bred accent. “How old is it?”  
“Oh I don’t know, it’s from the fifties…” he picked at the cloth childishly.  
“Well, I like it.” Rose continued.

They landed the TARDIS on the bay of Moompay and they ran out the doors, giggling, and they were met by the bright light of a white sun on an emerald ocean and pearly sands of the beach.  
“Oh, it’s gorgeous!” Rose exclaimed, taking off her sun dress to reveal a scarlet one-piece swimsuit.

The two of them quickly found a place to lay out their towels, amongst all the hundreds and thousands of people of the universe who also were on holiday, and then ran straight for the water.  
For hours they splashed, played, swam, joked, talked on the sand, returned to the water to body surf on the waves, laughed, and got to know each other better than they had in weeks before from travelling and exploring. The Doctor was glad for this break.

Eventually the Doctor made his way back to his towel, leaving Rose to swim alone for a bit, and promptly fell asleep under the warmth of the sun.

He opened his eyes to see Rose smiling down at him, telling him something he couldn’t quite understand. He smiled back at her and watched as her face neared his, her smile unwavering, until she was close enough to whisper something.  
He didn’t hear it at first and whispered, “Wot?”  
Rose giggled and repeated what she said.

“It hurts,” she whispered. The Doctor stared at her as she pulled back a bit.  
“...Wot did you say?” he could barely breathe.  
“My head…” Rose suddenly frowned and grabbed her head, shutting her eyes tight. “It’s killing me!”  
“Wot?!” The Doctor began to panic, a terrible memory rising within him.  
Then she opened her eyes.   
Her eyes were glowing gold--

The Doctor woke with a start and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and stood, looking around for Rose. He couldn’t see her.  
“Rose?” he called out, before he froze. No one was around. The beach was empty. But everyone’s things were still there.

“Rose!” he shouted frantically, running about.  
“...Doctor!” a faint cry rang out from the silence behind the Doctor.

He immediately bolted in the direction of the voice, tripping over various items on his way. After turning the bend next to the slight cliffside, he saw something horrific. There was a terrible amount of heaps of glowing and quickly disintegrating bodies strewn about, and in the cliffside, a huge glowing crack loomed.  
“Rose?!”

“...Doctor…” though she spoke quietly, he could hear her clearly through the shrill silence. Her voice led him dangerously close to the crack. He ran around and jumped over the unfortunate bodies of creatures that the crack had evidently affected.  
Finally he found Rose, shivering and staring at the crack.  
“Rose!” The Doctor exclaimed but she didn’t look at him.

“I can’t look away,” Rose’s voice cracked and the doctor could see she was trying not to cry.   
“Everyone saw it appear and then it was as if it were calling to us. They all touched it…”  
The Doctor watched as she reached out towards the crack.

“Rose, don’t touch it!” he warned, lunging at her. He pulled her back with such a force that they both fell backwards. 

Rose cried but eventually her distress lessened as the bodies disappeared until finally she seemed to have forgotten what had happened. She stood, looked around, helped the Doctor up, who was still quite distressed and remembered everything, and they walked back to the TARDIS.

\--------

“Are you alright?!” the Doctor questioned Rose as she walked into the control room, the both of them dressed in their regular clothes. Rose looked at him confusedly.   
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked. The Doctor’s previous theory had just been proven.  
Whatever the crack was, whatever died by it, no one would remember. This was all a lot more dangerous than he had thought. 

Without saying anything, he walked up to her and hugged her tight.  
“No reason. Of course you’re okay.” he mumbled. His hearts still ached from worry for her. But now he knew he could finally tell her what he’d always needed to.   
“I…” he hesitated and immediately and inwardly reproached himself for it. He couldn’t afford to wait any longer. He set his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

“Rose Tyler, I love you.” he said firmly. Rose looked surprised, and then confused, and then relieved.  
“I love you too!” she whispered. The Doctor pulled her close and kissed her. 

He’d finally said it.


	6. Parallel

The controls in the TARDIS sparked and sirens and alarms blared frantically. Rose clung to the railing, looking terrified.   
“This isn’t supposed to happen!” the Doctor shouted above all the noise, running here and there to try and prevent what was happening from happening at all.  
“Wot’s going on!?” Rose cried out.   
“We’re falling into a parallel universe!” The Doctor exclaimed as he ran for Rose to protect her from the impact that was surely to come any second.

(16 hours earlier…)

The Doctor opened his eyes slowly, feeling warm all over; his hearts beat at a calm pace.   
Taking a deep breath, he breathed in Rose’s sweet scent. She lay there, beside him in her bed, sleeping peacefully.   
The Doctor nuzzled his face in Rose’s golden locks and smiled, closing his eyes again. He’d finally told her how he felt and it felt as if a terrible weight had been lifted off his chest.

Rose lazily woke and rolled over to face him, placing a small kiss on his nose.   
"Good morning, Doctor." She grinned.  
"Good morning, Rose." He replied and kissed her softly.

The Doctor sat up and set his feet on the cold floor of Rose's room.  
"Are you okay?" The Doctor questioned over his shoulder. Rose rolled over.  
"Just colder." She replied groggily.   
The Doctor smiled; she still couldn't remember anything about the cracks or what they did on that beach. 

'Probably for the best,' The Doctor though as he stood up and put on the rest of his clothes that were strewn about.

The Doctor watched Rose dose back off and placed a soft kiss on her cheek before he walked to the control room and sat down on the railing.  
He sighed heavily; his hearts ached partially with love and partially with guilt. This wasn't his Rose, but he was desperate enough to settle for this copy that was made during the paradox.

'It doesn't matter' he thought and stepped up to the controls.  
The question now was where would he take her next?

'Somewhere without the cracks' he thought and began pressing buttons. He didn't know where he was going but all he cared about was taking as much time with this Rose as he could before the inevitable disaster happened.

The TARDIS shuddered, shook, and wheezed alive, traveling through time and space until it reached its destination and landed with a firm shake. The Doctor ran to the screen and read "Farengar" aloud. 

The histories of this planet ran through his mind, people, languages, cities, and towns accompanying the facts. He knew it to be a very educationally historical site; and what he knew Rose would like was that it was famous for its hot spring baths.

Looking behind him first to make sure Rose wasn't around, he wrote a note saying not to leave until he got back and left it on the controls facing the direction Rose was sure to appear.

With a contented sigh, the Doctor walked out of the TARDIS, tucking his sonic screwdriver into his jacket. He was determined to find out if any cracks had found their way here already.

The first scent that filled the Doctor's nostrils was blood. He stood in the doorway of the TARDIS in astonished silence. The scent was suddenly overpowered by smells of fresh fruit, cooking meat, breads of all kinds, and the undeniable bustle of a marketplace struck his ears. 

He sniffed again and couldn't smell the blood anymore.  
Shaking his head, he continue on, sure that he was only being paranoid.

After about three hours of walking around and searching, he returned to the TARDIS to see if Rose was ready for the day.

Walking through the doors, he was met with the sight of the dimly lit control room and Rose, who was dressed and looked excited and slightly suspicious at the sight of the Doctor.

"Wot were you up to, then?" Rose asked, trying to sound more cross than she felt.  
The Doctor walked up to Rose and kissed her gently. "Scouting," he said simply.  
"For wot?" She pressed on curiously.  
"Nothing in particular." He smiled and dismissed her other attempts to get a more solid answer.

It wasn't long before they were walking around the marketplace, oogleing at strange foods they'd never seen before and even daring to taste some of it. The Doctor explained histories and origins of some of the aliens Rose didn't recognize. 

Just as the Doctor had expected, Rose almost immediately headed towards the hot springs.

Within twenty minutes they had bought a couple of hours in a couple's spring bath and were sitting, shoulder to shoulder, in the calming and refreshing natural mineral water. After talking of many things in the universe, in Rose's life, and vague things in the Doctor's life, the scent of fresh, familiar blood, stung his nostrils again.

"Where are you going?" Rose asked in confusion as she watched her new intergalactic lover start to get out of the water and grab a towel for decency.  
"I'll be back soon, just doing my business." He lied with a smile and walked out of the compartment they were in.

As soon as he entered the hallway, the stench of blood grew stronger and there was no one around that looked as if they even noticed the smell. Then suddenly the stench was gone and replaced by warm minerals and lotions and the like.

The Doctor stood there, holding a towel around his nether parts, and stared down the hall in confusion. There was someone he recognized standing there with white hair and a blood chilling from. Then he was gone as well.

The Doctor quickly turned around and practically leapt back into the compartment, very confused and deeply disturbed. The man he saw was not supposed to be there; the man he saw wasn't supposed to be anywhere.

Rose looked up in surprise as the Doctor landed in the water and she squealed when a small wave of water splashed against her face.

"Sorry," he laughed.  
"S'alright," Rose smiled and smoothed down her hair. "Wot made you look so excited?"   
"...Nothing." He lied with a charming smile.  
"You know what would make me excited?" She continued.   
The Doctor shook his head.  
Rose smiled and pulled him close...

\--------

After Rose and the Doctor finished putting their clothes on, Rose expressed her desire to go exploring a little longer before the sun went down. Through alleyways and backstreets they walked, seeing things tourists wouldn't have thought to look for. 

They saw the inhabitants of the planet living their lives in peace and harmony; they lived in the way humans could only dream of. They saw children playing, parents talking, and, well, life happening the way it seemed it should.

They walked to the TARDIS at a leisurely pace, talking and joking the whole way, until the Doctor suddenly stopped and protectively grabbed Rose's hand.

A man with short pale white hair and a maniacal grin stood between them and the TARDIS. Rose looked up at the Doctor's face and saw that it was covered in horror, confusion, and fear. He knew the strange man; it didn't take long for Rose to see that the man before them knew the Doctor as well.   
Rose also vaguely felt the sense that she too knew this man, although she somehow knew she shouldn't be able to remember him.

"Hello, Doctor," the white haired man began, looking as if to be in a remarkable amount of pain. He reeked of blood and the Doctor could see bits of it drying here and there on the parts of the man’s body that weren’t hidden by his clothes.  
"You're not suppose to be here," the Doctor couldn't hide the shakiness in his voice.

"Neither is she," the other man retorted bitterly. "I would have still been dead if not for your mistake."  
The Doctor looked at the man with a face full of guilt and eyes filled with pity. He tightened his grip on Rose's hand slowly.

"Dead? Wot does he mean dead?" Rose asked, thoroughly confused. "Who is he?"  
"His name's the Master," the Doctor answered in a hushed tone.

"And you know what, Doctor?" The man continued. The grin disappeared from his face and was replaced by a bitter glare. "The drums never really went away. They just keep pounding and pounding in my head louder than before!" He clutched his head.

"I just want to be over! And I'm so hungry!" He growled and shut his eyes.

"Wot do you want from me?" The Doctor asked.  
The Master's eyes shot open and the grin returned.  
"Silence...quiet..." He whispered. "But I'll never get that, will I?" His voice began to rise. "I'd settle to see you burn instead." 

With that last remark, the Master turned and ran towards the TARDIS, hands outstretched. The Doctor ran forward, dragging Rose behind him, in an effort to keep the madman from touching the blue box.  
'Not another paradox! Not again!' He thought desperately.

The Master was too quick and as soon as his fingertips touched the TARDIS' wood, he vanished and the Doctor and Rose went tumbling to a halt inside the time machine.

The controls in the TARDIS sparked and sirens and alarms blared frantically. Rose clung to the railing, looking terrified.   
“This isn’t supposed to happen!” the Doctor shouted above all the noise, running here and there to try and prevent what was happening from happening at all.  
“Wot’s going on!?” Rose cried out.   
“We’re falling into a parallel universe!” The Doctor exclaimed as he ran for Rose to protect her from the impact that was surely to come any second; all the while he knew their destination, reciting it as his arms wrapped around Rose's body. 

'Bad Wolf bay.'


	7. Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY I HAVENT POSTED IN A LOOOONG TIME. Adult life hit me hard...T_T

The Doctor sat up abruptly. Debris tumbled off his body once he did so and dust caught in his nose and caused him to sneeze.   
‘How long have I been lying here?’ he thought.  
He looked around the now trashy control room of the TARDIS. They had crashed...somewhere.  
“Rose?” he suddenly called out, remembering his companion. He felt around and found Rose lying next to him. 

“Rose? Rose wake up!” The Doctor shook her gently until she sat up and groaned, holding her head.  
“...Doctor?” she said, looking confused.  
“Are you alright?” he asked worriedly.  
She nodded and he sighed with relief.  
“Now, where are we?” The Doctor wondered aloud and helped Rose to her feet.  
“You said...a paradox? That’s the last thing I remember,” Rose said.  
“Ah…Yeah I-” The Doctor interrupted himself and a horrible feeling found its way into the pit of his stomach.

‘...We can’t be here.’ He thought. He turned to speak to Rose but she was no longer behind him. The Doctor looked towards the door and saw Rose opening it.

“No! Don’t!” The Doctor ran after her out the door and was met by ocean air, sand beneath his feet, and the sound of roaring waves in his ears.   
His hearts thumped hard at the sight Bad Wolf Bay once again, both with panic and with hope.

Rose had fallen to her knees in the sand and she still held her head tightly with both hands, seeming to be in unbearable pain.   
“Rose, what's wrong?” The Doctor ran to her side.

She mumbled something under her breath.  
"What?" The Doctor rubbed her back soothingly.   
"...Bad...Wolf..." Rose said, her voice just above a whisper. 

The Doctor drew back his hand and stared in horror as Rose sat up and turned to him.  
Her eyes glowed gold.

"Bad...Wolf...Bad. Wolf. BAD. WOLF." She almost chanted, getting louder and louder the more she said it, until she was screaming.  
The Doctor was overwhelmed. He stood up and backed away, tears of frustration in his eyes, refusing to fall.  
'If only I hadn't gone back!' He thought.

"Doctor!" A voice called from somewhere distant behind him.   
Time seemed to slow as the Time Lord turned around to see someone standing further down the beach with a figure in a blue suit.

"Rose..." He could barely breathe. His hearts skipped a few beats.  
Rose and the other figure suddenly began to run towards The Doctor and he watched as they ran straight past him and over to the Rose that was bent over on the sand.

Rose reached out a hand to touch the other version of herself.  
"Wait! No, don't!" The Doctor screamed, bolting over to grab Rose's hand but he was too late. 

The Rose on the ground collapsed and stopped moving and the Rose standing turned around to stare at the Doctor.  
Her eyes glowed gold angrily.

"What.did.you.do." She spoke through gritted teeth. The Doctor was amazed and speechless; hadn't he taken all the vortex from her and sent it back into the TARDIS?

"A piece of Time and Space stayed with me," Rose sighed, as if she could read his thoughts, and her eyes returned to normal. "I'm still Bad Wolf."   
Her hands were shaking, but she pretended not to notice.  
"Don't worry, she's just asleep." Rose explained.

The figure who quietly stood next to Rose The Doctor finally realized was his clone; the lucky bastard that got to live the life he could only dream of.

The Doctor looked from Rose to the clone. His human half glanced at him reassuringly and a small smile spread on his face as if to say, "this life has been everything you hoped it would be."

The Doctor's hearts throbbed when he looked back over at Rose again. She was even more beautiful than he remembered her being.   
Although she and her paradoxical twin looked identical, there was a noticeable difference between the maturity in this Rose's face, earned by her years traveling with the Doctor.

"What happened? Why are there two of me?" Rose questioned, obviously irritated.  
"I was all set to die," the Doctor started quietly, looking away. "My time was at an end and I was about to regenerate...but I decided to visit you before I did."  
Rose's gaze softened.

"Why?"   
"I wanted to see the you before you'd ever met me," the Doctor smiled weakly. "Oh, you were so full of life! It was New Year's Eve, two thousand and--"  
"Two thousand and five..." Rose interrupted, a glimmer of realization in her eyes.  
"That was...you?"  
The Doctor nodded.  
"A last goodbye. But...the only difference is that...I started to regenerate before I made into the TARDIS and you, well," he gestured to the Rose who was lying on the ground. "This version of you, ran out and tried to help me up."

Rose was very quiet for a few moments.

One last time, the Doctor looked at the clone with a questioning look. The clone nodded slightly.

The Doctor suddenly pulled Rose close and kissed her. Rose's eyes widened and tears started to fall slowly down her cheeks.  
The Doctor pulled away and held her tightly.  
"Rose Tyler," he whispered.  
"I love you."

\----------

Jackie Tyler had a lot to say.  
She always had something to say. But The Doctor was hardly listening to a word she attempted to berate him with.

The Doctor’s clone, which he had jokingly named “Tentoo”, scooped up the clone of Rose--the original Rose decided it would be best if The Doctor didn’t touch her any more than he had to--and took her into the TARDIS.

“We only have a few minutes,” Rose cut into her mother’s speech about how The Doctor neglected her girl and how no respectable man would even dream of blah blah blah…  
“There’s so much I want to tell you…”  
“Me too.” The Doctor smiled, gently squeezing Rose’s hand. “You go first.”

Rose took a deep breath and blushed.  
“Um...well...I’m pregnant.”  
“What?! Really?!” The Doctor exclaimed, eyes widening in excitement. “That’s brilliant! Boy or girl?”  
‘Damn Tentoo.’ he cursed his clone in his head. ‘What I’d give to switch lives with you...’  
“We don’t know yet...we wanted it to be a surprise.” Rose giggled.  
“The Reapers are close,” she said, her face suddenly growing very concerned.

The TARDIS suddenly began to shake and Tentoo stumbled out and onto the sand.

“Time to go.” The Doctor smiled weakly and leaned down to give Rose a final kiss.

Every particle of his being was screaming for him to stay but somehow he found the strength to pull away, run to the TARDIS, and wipe his tears as he stepped through the doors.   
With a last glance before closing the doors, he saw Rose’s eyes glint gold as she waved goodbye for a third time.


End file.
